Continuous Intraocular Pressure Monitoring by Means of the Sensimed Triggerfish® System

Abstract

Glaucoma is a progressive, chronic and irreversible neuropathy with typical structural changes at the optic nerve head and with functional defects in the visual field, leading to blindness at the end stage. It is estimated that over 60 million people worldwide are now affected by this disease and this number will dramatically increase to about 80 million by 2020. Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness in the world: it is estimated that 10% of people affected by glaucoma progress to blindness. 1Glaucoma is a multifactorial disease, but the only proven way to reduce its progression is by lowering intraocular pressure (IOP), by means of pharmacological, laser or surgical therapy. Intraocular Pressure ManagementIOP is a biological parameter that has a 24-hour biorhythm: in the majority of people it shows little variation -without clinically significant differences during the 24-hour period -while in some cases, IOP may be higher during the morning, or in the afternoon, or during the night. Triggerfish ® is a system enabling continuous IOP monitoring based on a disposable contact lens with a sensor linked to a telemetric microprocessor. The purpose of this project was to investigate the clinical applicability of the system as an additional tool, providing useful information for the management of glaucoma patients. Of eight evaluated patients, two cases are presented in detail in this report. The monitoring system that provides 24-hour continuous data appears to be very promising, as it captures clinically useful, real-life IOP fluctuations day and night while patients maintain normal activities, including undisturbed sleep.